(For links, including Guidelines, Terms of Service, Acronyms, and Privacy, please scroll to the end of this message)

Some basic rules and general information:

BabyCenter welcomes all, no matter what stage of the parenting journey you are on. From deciding to try, to taking the test; from babies loved and lost and babies learning to crawl and walk; from preschool to grade-school; from the tween years to the teen years and beyond, every member on BabyCenter has the right to share the story of his or her unique parenting journey. Our community is a place of personal free expression, where we value an honest and supportive exchange of ideas and experiences.

Community Guidelines : These are the guidelines you agreed to when you created your account. Give them a look and be sure your participation in all areas of our site conform before posting. http://www.babycenter.com/community-help-guidelines

If you see violations of the community guidelines, please use "Report this" link found on every post and thread instead of calling the member out.. When you report, you can choose to report it to the community, the group owners or both. Group Owners do not see reports sent to the community. If you have something that needs handled, please report it to the group owners as that will get the fastest action. Please be sure to report any malicious or questionable activity to both the Mods and the GOs by choosing "both" when reporting something.

If you wish to communicate with another member directly, you can use the "Pass a note" (PAN) link. You cannot share PANs publicly. This includes using direct verbage or stating who sent a PAN. If you are personally attacked or spammed in a PAN, please report it. Every PAN has a "Report this" link as well. Those reports are not seen by the Group Owners, just the community moderators. Please take note of your inbox--if there is a problem with your post or thread, the GO's may give you an opportunity to edit it before any corrective action is taken.

You may also use the "Ignore user" button to avoid reading posts from members you prefer not to interact with.

Snark is not a violation. Rudeness is not a violation. Someone disagreeing with your opinion is not a violation.

Telling someone they are rude IS a violation. Telling someone you think their comment was rude is NOT a violation. It's in the semantics.

The following terms and phrases are violations: "Get a life", Grow Up", "Get over yourself" ("Get over IT" is not a vio..."Get over yourself" is a vio), "STFU", "Leave/don't post here", "I feel sorry for your baby/child/children" etc. are all vios, even in GIF form.

Own your posts. If you post it, you own it, it's yours, whether or not you like the responses you've gotten. The GO's do NOT delete threads due to poster remorse (i.e. not getting the responses you wanted, or you decided you shouldn't have posted, etc.).

We will delete entire threads ONLY if there is a major privacy issue, an investigation involving law enforcement, or if the original thread is, in and of itself a violations. If you are upset that we won't delete if for you, contact the mods, either by reporting the thread to "community staff" or directly at community@babycenter.com.

Cross posting threads from other groups for drama purposes is against guidelines. Cross posting threads that have been locked by GO's or Mod's is against guidelines.

Announcing who your BEC* is, or calling someone a BEC is a violation. Announcing who is on your ignore list is a violation. (*BEC stands for "Bitch Eating Crackers", which is someone who has pissed you off or annoyed you so much that no matter what they do, it pisses you off)

Asking for donations or soliciting signatures for petitions is only allowed on the Good Causes Group.

Notifying people that you are starting a Facebook group open is a violation.

If you want to share an article, you can share the link and a small snippet from it, but do not C&P the whole thing. That's a violation.

If you are posting about a topic that may be stressful to the other mothers (i.e, miscarriage, stillborns, death, etc.) please be courteous and add "Warning" or "Trigger" to your thread's title.

Do not post links to other people's Facebook accounts, Instagram, Twitter, etc. You can post links to public Facebook pages, but NOT personal pages. Do not post pictures that are not your own. If it's on Google Images, it's fair game, but if it's someone else's from Facebook, etc. you can NOT post it, even with faces blurred out.

Sometimes there will be threads that you think may be fake or started by a "troll". Do not call this person out as a troll, "bridge dweller", or any other code word that might be created. Follow DER- Don't engage, report. Calling someone a "Troll" is against community guidelines.

Remember, if you believe an account has been created for malicious purposes, please report to the Community Mods. They are better equipped to handle those situations, whereas Group Owners are very limited. You may do this by clicking on the account name, then clicking "Report Profile".

To add, Memes, Gifs, or pictures that refer to another poster as a Troll is also considered a violation.

No swearing in titles, and this includes the words "piss(ed)" and "crap(ped)". You also can not use a combination of letters and symbols (i.e. Sh!t or F*ck). You can use WTF or WTH in the title. Swearing IN the posts is allowed.

GOs can't Ban or give Time Outs. If a thread says this thread has been flagged for abuse, it means the MODs are reviewing it. The GOs cannot flag a thread.
GOs will work to keep threads open by redirecting them, putting Guideline reminders, etc. If there needs to be a cool down period, we will close them and re-open if we can.

A reminder that it's a public board that even non-BBC members can read. Please remember to practice basic internet safety (don't use your full name as your SN, don't link to your Facebook, etc.)

Arguing with a GO via PAN is a violation (though we do support and appreciate feedback just don't yell, curse, or threaten us). Calling out a GO publicly about something we've done (i.e. deleted a post, locked a thread) that you don't like is a violation. If you complain and a GO doesn't think your complaint is a valid violation you are free to let the MODs by e-mailing community@babycenter.com.

We admittedly don't catch every single violation, don't read every single post, and we miss things. This is where being a community comes into play. We need members to report things that are violations or things they may even just "think" are violations to help us do our jobs. We catch quite a bit but some things do slip through the cracks.

We sincerely hope that you find that the March 2013 Birth Club gives you a place to share your stories, triumphs, worries, laughter, sadness, and concern with others who are in the same spot as you. Thank you for being a part of the group!

Please, always feel free to PAN your GO's or e-mail the community at community@babycenter.com with any questions or concerns!